More to come…

I remember a time about 10-12 years ago discovering a visionary dude with a great talent at cranking out visionary tools to support people who were becoming coaches. He died a few years later before he got to see the huge impact he’s made. Today it seems everyone wants to be a paid life or business coach. He’s now regarded as “the father of personal and business coaching.”

I’m speaking of course of Thomas Leonard.

Well, influenced by him and others, I’m desiring to create a environment for mutual learning and co-creating in an effort to crank out tools/concepts/skills/etc. to support the Rising Visionaries.

In a sense I wish to do for the Rising Visionaries what he did for Coaches. By “Rising Visionaries” I mean those of us who are waking up to the ways in which our thinking, our culture, our systems are far less than what would be optimal for human life on earth, unsustainable and even headed for crisis. (I have material coming out to define and describe the “Rising Visionary”)

It’s in this spirit that big questions come up regarding the coaching industry, the human development industry, the “American Guru” industry. Part of what I’d like to do is point out big traps that many of us Rising Visionaries, rEvolutionaries, evolutionaries, evolvers, inspired change agents, crazy adventurers (or whatever we choose to call ourselves!) face on our paths to create the change we seek.

And I’m not too interested in what’s already being widely talked about regarding conscious evolution, and “changing the world.” I’m more interested in what people are *not* talking about. I’m interested in facing what few people are facing. I’m interested in exploring the more “dangerous” and “kinky” conversations!

And I’m very very interested in supporting those who are standing up to the powers that be, but realizing that real change is going to come from taking the initiative to recreate their world–literally–and are engaging in Creating Working Alternatives–rather than fighting inside against the opposition trying to change the system.

In this regard I’ve been inspired my ancestors who left religious persecution in Switzerland to come to America. I’m inspired by my Mormon pioneer ancestors who crossed the plains in covered wagons and settled in Utah to create a new life. I’m inspired by the character, John Galt of Atlas Shrugged, who created a new civilization in Galt’s Gulch. I’m inspired by the humans in the movie The Matrix. Etc., etc.

For example, I’m talking about…

- supporting the mother of seven children who’s afraid to leave the cult compound with her children and start a new life in a small mountain community where are children are home schooled and unschooled, so they can develop their natural brilliance and be self-reliant and community-reliant.

- supporting the business executive in the big city who just lost his job and his retirement savings, is questioning the game he’s been playing all his life, and thinking about turning his backyard into a permacultured heaven.

- supporting the potential whistleblower who has information that can break the monopoly power of the Federal Reserve, but who will need emotional support, a safe place to live and a way to start over.

- supporting the recent college graduate who’s just become disillusioned with Obama and the whole political game, and is seeking to get an alternative education in creating sustainable communities, even though he owes his parents and the government thousands and thousands for his university education.

- supporting the financier who has just moved to Brasil, who’s had visions of ways that human beings can live with deep trust, honoring relationships, peace and honoring care for our environment, and has chosen to stop fighting the system and go to an ex-pat community in the mountains for Ecuador to experiment with new economic models.

- supporting the former soldier who realized the shenanigans and crimes of the US military, and the injustice being foisted on young soldiers when they realize that their conscience conflicts with their military orders, and is helping to build an oasis for these Soldiers of Conscience.

- the musician who’s music is written to uplift and inspire those who dare to be the change in our world, and who’s music is not being played on the radio, because he’s not going to make the compromises the music industry requires, and is instead inventing ways of traveling the world supporting other inspired change agents!

I have already been supporting such people (in fact many of the above are based on real people I’ve been supporting), but I desire to support them and YOU(?) at the NEXT LEVEL! And I and my people have been experimenting with some really FUN and POWERFUL ways of supporting each other in Creating Our World!

THESE ARE MY PEOPLE!

How can I support My People at the Next Level? How can I support My People in even kinkier, more fun, more sustainable more connective ways??? These are the kinds of questions I’m asking myself!

And I have some ways in mind (and you probably do to!)… and I’m inviting you to come play with me and My People! I desire to connect with people who desire to go deep into freedom and connection.

More soon!

She conducted this interview for her membership site, where she invites people to experiment with their creative power and create the life they envision. My mother's story is an incredible one, and she has been a continual source of inspiration to me since the time I was born (yes, I am biased, but just ask the hundreds of people have written to her, after her story and ideas changed their lives)!

MP3 File

Judgment Walls As A Tool of the Positionary Mind

The young child is adored by her parents. In their eyes she can do no wrong. She is precious, perfect. Even when she messes her diaper, she’s a little miracle.

Her parents seem to be all powerful. They can get the cookies down from the top shelf. And they’re all knowing too. They know how to tie shoes and count to 20. Her parents are her grasp on reality—what’s what, who’s who, and why things do what they do.

Then one day, mom comes home after being stuck in traffic and sees the house a mess. She hasn’t had any time to herself in a long time. She’s been giving so much, working so hard, and now the house is a mess again.

Around the corner comes the adorable little girl, so happy to see mommy, and in that instant she sees the glare in her mom’s eyes, hears the shriek of her voice and her towering presence over her. The little one is petrified.

She cries out, her whole world is upside down. The one who knows everything, the one who gave her life, the one to takes care of her, the one who she depends on for love and survival is suddenly a threat to her existence—or so it seems.

What is she to do? What can she do?

As the child grows older, she learns a few basic strategies to deal with this pain.

She learns ways of finding separation from her parents’ eyes and voice, so she’s not hurt by their looks of disapproval, or the subtle mockery in their voices. Eventually, as she begins to form her own identity among her peers, she becomes more self-conscious and the extra shaming from her parents only adds fuel to the fire.

She stays in her room a lot. She puts on her headphones and listens to music. She spends a lot of time with friends, who understand her and approve of her. She leaves the house a lot, finds other things to do. She covers her ears and runs out of the room, when necessary.

And there’s another way she finds separation. She erects walls of judgment. If mom is a psycho basket case, then when mom’s yelling at her, it sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher. Waa Waa Waa Waa Waa Waa Waa Waa. And, it doesn’t hurt as much that mom disapproves.

Any kind of judgment works. Maybe mom is too old, too conservative, too tight, too out of touch, too controlling, too manipulative, too mean, too ___________________.

What works is that mom’s looks and words of disapproval don’t hurt as much anymore.

Then, when she’s in school and the cool group of girls laugh at her, she learns to look down on them. They’re stupid, or preppy, or arrogant. Again, any judgments will do the trick. It works for the girl’s mind, because it’s less painful to be in their presence or to think of them.

As the girl dates, and is rejected by the guy she adores. It hurts. Judgments help give her the strength to let go and move on.

But over time, the girl has erected a set of emotional and mental walls that begin to keep her separate and alone, a virtual prisoner in a self-made jail. And she’s getting really good at it. She knows how to shame someone just with a roll of her eyes. Inside, though, she’s hurting. She just may not know how much she’s hurting. Others may not know. Until she starts to find ways to medicate herself or find approval among peers, who are also hurting.

By this time, her parents have little influence. It hurts them that their daughter won’t open up to them fully. It hurts that she says mean things to them. They raised her, supported her, sacrificed so much for her, loved her through it all—and now she’s so distant, and sometimes as cold as ice.

They don’t know what to do. They too are hurting deeply. To be rejected, even hated by their flesh and blood, by the little precious baby they gave birth to. What could hurt more deeply? Silently her parents blame themselves, and each other. And, of course, when their daughter looks at them or speaks to them in a disrespectful way, they sometimes lash out—further fueling their daughter’s pain, and justifying her fears that they don’t love her, don’t see her, and don’t understand her.

Sometimes the young girl may try to open up and explain. And her parents, assuming they understand and wanting to help, offer her advice–from behind their own judgment walls. And she feels it. She can’t hear their words, because she senses their disapproval. They think they’re listening. She knows they’re not.

And so the separation grows ever wider. At some point, a comfortable distance of separation is reached, and everyone comes to accept each other. “Such is life,” they say. And they give up on the impassioned dreams and desires for deeply intimate, loving family bonds. Sure, they laugh together, visit each other, talk to one another, and everything’s fine.

But there’s no vision for it being any other way.

Their Judgment Walls keep them from being able to see and speak to the heart of the other.

Judgment Walls are an integral tool of the Positionary Mind. Judgment Walls limit our vision, but they keep us protected from being hurt—or at least it appears that way.

Over the years, the separation caused by the walls brings far more suffering than the pain of being judged in the moment.

Judgments, however, can be a powerful way to force yourself and your views on others. They can be used to have people do what you want, because they fear you, or fear being judged by you. Whether we realize it or not, most of us are judgment Jedi’s! We can swing our sword of our judgment in the blink of an eye.

Many people have become very successful in today’s Positionary World using Judgments as tools and weapons. It’s obvious to see in those who walk all over others to get their way, but most of those they walk over, no doubt stand in judgment of them.

So, how do we protect ourselves from our parents’ and other authorities’ judgments of us? By building our own walls of judgment, which in turn hurt them. Of course, they then make their walls even thicker which hurts us more. And, on and on it goes….

Why are our parents and other authorities in our lives often so incapable of really seeing us and speaking to our hearts? Why do they use fear, guilt and shame to enforce their views on us? Why are they so distant? Or, so intrusive? Or, so insensitive? Or ______________?

Consider that they grew up in the same crazy world we’re living in now. They faced the judgments of the world, to be who they have become. Inside each adult is a wounded child, longing to be seen and honored for who they truly are.

If you’re ready to end the craziness of the Positionary Mind, and collapse the walls of judgment that keep you separated from the ones you love, I invite you to take an application for the iStand Experience, formerly the VisionForce Boot Camp. NOTE: The application deadline for the Spring Session is tonight, Monday February 4th at 11:59pm.

Please leave your comments below:

Imagine this…

THE TWELVE BREAK-THRU’S OF THE NEXT DECADE
Opportunities on the event horizon

* 1. Oil companies realize they are liquid transportation companies and start to move fresh water to needy places on the planet.
* 2. Major engineering companies respond to rising seas and create canals that take the excess water into barren lowlands inside the continents where it is needed.
* 3. The national military forces of the planet merge to form natural security teams and restore their respective parts of the earth�s forests, plant life, watersheds, wildlife and the biosphere above all that.
* 4. That schools recognize that content is already available on line and change their courses to life skills, learning based pursuits, and a new partnership with nature.
* 5. That Universities build upon the science of conscious evolution, a visionary mindset, and life force living intelligence and then structure their experience based curricula to that end.
* 6. That government decentralizes into bioregions and organizes military units, school kids, fire departments and others to generate food foraging forests in all available sites for complete global food security.
* 7. That neighborhoods take on a wide variety of energy producing solutions to become fully independent but not totally separate from the power grid.
* 8. That web-based democracies attend to their regionally based constituents and use the global web intelligence system to optimize local living. 9. That railheads, airports, and warehouses converge to be able to launch global air rescue missions that deliver major emergency living villages to all peoples globally within hours of a disaster.
* 10. That the global public achieves a clear unifying identity and the pre-emptive political power to defang the nuclear arsenal and its fear based factions while offering alternative product lines for the military industrial complex.
* 11. That we accept the notion that life is more likely to exist in the galaxy than not and prepare for the real benefits of new connections.
* 12. That we embrace a new level of profound simplicity and reintroduce creativity as a replacement for things and mindless entertainment.

We are at the dawn of a new era, in which human beings own our full power to create. It begins by stepping into a sacred relationship with self, others and all that is.

The work we do at the VisionForce Boot Camp is quite simple, yet very profound, and it has great implications for the world we live in.

The next domain of technology that will transform the world we live in is the inner domain of human relationship–relationship to self, others, the planet, the universe, the divine, etc. For nearly five decades we’ve been flying into outer space and landing upon the moon, but we seem to find it more challenging to traverse the inner space required in landing within the sacred realm of another’s heart, let alone our own. This is the next frontier. It’s an invitation to all those who dare to explore and pioneer new paths for connecting with others, even and especially those seemingly opposed to us, and creating together.

Already, there is a growing movement around the world, as noted by Paul Hawken in his book, Blessed Unrest, of organizations that are rising up to cross divides, stand together and create a better world.

One such organization is the Pachamama Alliance, which we are honoring at our March Boot Camp, in calling out specifically for 44 inspired leaders who are willing to stand with us to “bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on the planet.”

Today, I honor those who are journeying here next week to “face everything, avoid nothing and stand for humanity.”

I just wrote the following to the new class of visionaries who will be attending the VisionForce Boot Camp in 2 weeks:

Watching the new film, Lions For Lambs, tonight in the theatre, it hit me. VisionForce is about being in action. This is not a new “revelation,” but a further clarification along the arduous path of learning to articulate what VisionForce offers people.

VisionForce is for those who are willing to BE in action, to LIVE as an uncompromised expression of their vision… especially at this critical time in history, at a time when we get to decide if we perish as a species due to our own choices, or if we acknowledge perhaps the greatest overlooked force for causing change… NOT political force, military force, financial power… put the force of our own individual vision… the power to walk the path less traveled, guided from within. Perhaps one of the greatest illusions of our time is the idea that the power to change the world is in the hands of Big Business, Big Government and Big Religion… and so we waste so much our time thinking, debating, complaining, watching debates, or taking well-intentioned actions that only feed the systems ruled by the big three. We donate our time, donate some money, pay our taxes, vote on election day, sign petitions, join some protests, post signs in our yard, etc. AS IF THESE ARE THE MOST POWERFUL ACTIONS WE CAN TAKE!

We are creators! Entrepreneurship, art, music, poetry, science, technology, … we can CREATE a world that really works! We can create! In the early 21st century, there is no longer much value in the idea of “doing our part,” hoping that it will all work out OK if we do. No, to summarize Werner Erhard, it’s time we each find the visionary leader in ourselves and come together to create a world that works. Those of us, like Erhard, who dare say human beings are capable of so much more, are laughed at and criticized. In Werner, and others in the “human potential movement,” we have people who dare to fail big, because they see there is something worth standing for.

Who are we not to own our power to BE the change now? Who are we to pretend we don’t have the power to create a world that works?

VisionForce – it’s the power in YOU.

When you come to boot camp in 2 weeks… something tells me you’re going to get the next evolution of boot camp! This is a process, an evolution… I am in the SAME game you are. I do not have answers for you, and I will not even think about telling you what to do. I simply invite you further into the game you are ALREADY in as a leader, a creator–by nature. Are you ready to play?

The film left me questioning my choice to be so “practical” for the last five years, building VisionForce as a business. Funny, my business advisers would say I’ve been anything but practical, and that I’ve been far too idealistic. It seems that either path might have been much more effective than the middle road. Had I gone for profit, and built the business to be much more financially successful, we might have the muscle to reach many more people now. Had I been in revolutionary action mode at the expense of the finances, we might have already reached so many more people.

So, what, I wonder, does it look like for me to STAND FORWARD and be the change at the next level? And what does it look like for you?

The training I attended was for those who are eager to facilitate Awaken The Dreamer, Changing The Dream symposiums, which invite people of all backgrounds to inquire into a conversation about the crises and opportunities of our time. It’s an invitation to stand for the sustainability of life itself by calling upon and honoring both the brilliance of the modern world and the ancient wisdom of indigenous peoples.

These symposiums are about 4 hours long and worthy of anyone committed to creating a better world.

Indeed, more and more, people are reporting having profound spiritual awakenings inside our Boot Camp, and yet, we have never presented it as spiritual work. We don’t present any religious or spiritual beliefs inside this work, preferring to keep it cleanly open “technology” that any individual from any paradigm or persuasion can use to live more powerfully.

I’ve been reluctant over the years to even use terms common to conversations about spirituality, because for so many people, such terms have predefined meanings. Thus, using those common terms can have people misconstrue what we are offering.

However, it is now feeling right to own this term, “spiritual,” in relation to this work. Having been profoundly influenced by a broad range of thinkers, some of the greatest of whom were skeptic, agnostic, atheistic, etc., such as Ayn Rand, I am sensitive to how people might interpret spiritual references. Everyone can relate, however, to the realm of human experience identified as “the human spirit,” or the realm of our experience that relates to our highest values, our highest sense of self, our deepest connection to others, our heroic endeavors in the face of incredible adversity, etc.

The challenge of introducing work (products, processes, programs, etc.) that is profoundly spiritual in this sense, without calling it such, has been a challenge from a business and marketing experience. I’ve also been reluctant to enter this realm of languaging, because of what that might mean for my life and for the business… everyone, it seems, has an idea of who a “spiritual teacher” should be, and many people will not learn from a “spiritual teacher” who does not match their preexisting values and beliefs. Many spiritual teachers are very authoritarian and positionary, and call for blind faith and obedience from “followers.” Many teach (and preach) from fear with threat of guilt and punishment–externally imposed guilt and fear being two of the most limiting and destructive forces for anyone who aims to be the least bit “visionary” or highly “conscious.” Then, there’s the fear and guilt that sometimes arises for me when I imagine taking on such a serious context for my life. I am called much more to the life of being the laughing Buddha… I’m just a guy who has something to offer, and after seeing the kind of vision I have seen, cannot go about living life without sharing what I have to offer.

You could say that I’ve seen and been called forth onto my path in life by “spiritual vision.” I hesitate to use this term here, because I don’t mean to imply that God gave me a vision… what I can say is that I saw a vision– a vision that spoke to my heart (or spirit) so powerfully that I could not turn away. And so here I am, offering my gifts to anyone willing to receive, FAR before having “arrived.” I’m learning very very fast, but it’s the painful learning experienced by the person who heads out into the unknown without much preparation. So, I’m learning by screwing up, and being criticized from all angles. The “preparation” I could do prior to heading down my path in life is a trap–a trap that in today’s authoritarian paradigm keeps most people from walking their path.

We’ve been so conditioned to compromise the calling of our heart or spirit in order to be accepted and respected in the eyes of authority and majority that we often can’t even FEEL the calling of our heart. So conditioned do we become that we often don’t even notice our deepest suffering, that sense of quiet desperation becomes accepted as a natural part of life. We medicate it, escape it, suppress it–but all of this, too, compromises our spirit and brings more suffering. Escaping or avoiding our suffering and the calling of our heart compromises the “spiritual vision” that we would EACH otherwise SEE and FEEL as human beings–or spiritual beings. Each of us COULD BE experiencing our life’s purpose in the same emotional way that we might experience being on a “Mission From God!” I don’t mean to imply that we should take on an ultra-serious, burdensome, self-sacrificial approach to life, but that we can have the powerful sense of mission that comes from “Spiritual Vision” that would have us naturally actualizing our highest potential and making our visions manifest. What I am referring to as “Spiritual Vision” here is accessible by anyone–the VisionForce work opens up direct and immediate access to that at a deep level.

…just took a moment to chat with a friend and told her that I am inclined to start calling this work spiritual exercise, and how referring to this work as spiritual has at times scared the crap out of me. Her reply was, “All the work we do is spiritual… but only the brave ones call it that.” Interesting. (Jessica, you should put that in your book of quotes!)

So, I’d like to begin to present the VisionForce work from a spiritual context here, starting with this blog post. In fact, I am going to speak with pretty universal language, so for those of you who usually speak from a more “advanced” lexicon for spirituality, I invite you to listen for how the VisionForce tools could help you take your own spiritual practices to a deeper level. Especially listen from the universal human dilemma of how we live true to our highest values in a world where everywhere we turn, we face the judgments and demands of people who have differing conclusions about what’s right and wrong. I invite you to listen for something NEW here, even though much of the language I am using to communicate this is not new.

More over the coming days… (stay tuned! and leave your Comments!)

P.S. Registration is open for the November 2007 Boot Camp. Learn more here.